Mac Tutorials - Herong's Tutorial Examples
∟System and Application Processes
This chapter provides quick introductions on processes running on macOS computer like Finder, WindowServer, Dock, Siri, mds, spindump, login, softwareupdate. It also provides tutorial examples on how to Activity Monitor, and 'ps/top/nettop' commands to review resource usage of each process.
What Is a Running Process
Use Activity Monitor on macOS
"ps" - Process Status Command
"top" - Display Top Processes
"nettop" - Processes Top Network Usages
"Finder" Process - File Browser on Mac
"WindowServer" Process - Drawing Graphics on Screen
"Dock" Related Processes
"Siri" Processes - Voice Command Interpreter
"mds" Processes - Metadata Server and Spotlight
"spindump" Processes - Dump Memory Contents
"login" Processes - Login Window and Services
"softwareupdate" Processes - Update System and Apps
"TeamsUpdater" Process from Microsoft Teams
Takeaways:
- A running process is a set of instructions currently being
processed by the computer system to perform a specific function.
- Activity Monitor allows you to
view all running processes and their resource usages.
- The "ps", process status, command
displays a list of running processes that matches given conditions.
- The "top" command displays running processes sorted by top usages
and keep them updated on the screen.
- The "nettop" command displays running processes sorted by top usages
of network resources.
- "Finder" process allows you to browse and manage files of your Mac, iCloud Drive,
and other storage devices.
- "WindowServer" is a system process that serves all apps to draw their
graphical elements on the desktop.
- "Dock" processes display an icon bar at the bottom of the desktop
to hold frequently used apps and features.
- "Siri" processes allow you to operates your Mac computer with voice commands
interactively.
- mds (metadata server)" processes are part of the "Spotlight" app,
which is the search engine on your Mac computer.
- "spindump" processes are used
to catch hang (spinning, not responding) application processes and save their
memory contents as dump files.
- "login" processes are used to
display the login window and provide login services.
- "softwareupdate" processes are used
to check, download and apply updates for system software and applications.
Table of Contents
About This Book
Macintosh OS (Operating System) History
macOS Operating System
macOS File Systems
macOS Network Connections
►System and Application Processes
Keychain Access - Password Manager
Keychain Access - Certificate Manager
Productivity Tools on macOS
Programming Tools on macOS
Apache Web Server on macOS
Develop and Run Java Applications
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